The Louisiana Democratic Party held a press conference in Republican territory Thursday to blast GOP Senate candidate Bill Cassidy's voting record on issues that impact senior citizens. Under the blistering 2 p.m. sun at the Covington Trailhead, the state Democratic party's executive director said he sought to call attention to Cassidy's position on cutting benefits for seniors to offset tax breaks for multi-millionaires.

"Congressman Cassidy claims that he is a doctor who works for the benefit of those needing care," Stephen Handwerk said at the sparsely-attended news conference. "But his votes prove he is just another Washington politician out for himself."

The Cassidy campaign fired back Thursday afternoon, saying it is Landrieu and other supporters of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, that are responsible for cuts to senior benefits.

"It's beyond logic to attack others for cuts to seniors when the only cut to Medicare that actually happened is the $716 billion that Senator Landrieu cut from Medicare to pay for Obamacare," John Cummins, spokesman for the Cassidy campaign, said in an emailed statement. "Senator Landrieu is playing sleight of hand because she doesn't want voters to focus on the fact that thebiggest cut ever in the history of Medicare occurred because she cast the deciding vote for Obamacare."

Villere, who served as Covington's mayor for 12 years, said Cassidy's support of raising the retirement age to 70 supports the notion that he does not have seniors' best interests in mind.

"Seniors are the backbone of Covington and every great community and they deserve the peace of mind that Social Security and Medicare provide, especially since they have paid into these programs their whole lives," Villere said. "But Congressman Cassidy voted to raise the retirement age and drastically cut benefits, so it's clear he is not looking out for Louisiana seniors."

St. Tammany Parish has long been considered a Republican stronghold. Of the parish's 161,054 registered voters, 72,729 are Republicans, 42,574 are Democrats and 45,751 are listed as "other."